The Change of a Lifetime
by Jay Starbeing
Summary: Nick has never really liked Ellis much. But he wouldn't say he hated him. They had just met in the worst of circumstances. What happens when Nick loses his chance to apologize to the young man for always being grouchy? Well, that would be spoiling the story now. I suggest stepping inside and seeing for yourself. (Not yaoi at all. Don't even suggest it. They are brothers here.)


((Author's Note: When I first typed this out, I had intended for this to be a one-shot apparently. It evolved into the idea that all of the group would get infected and my idea on what they would turn into. While that's good and all, I think I'm going to ditch the idea, now that I'm rewriting it. The story will mostly stay the same, but it will most definitely have a different end. Hope you guys enjoy~. Also, don't be afraid to point out any mistakes in grammar or spelling that I might have missed. I tend to spell things wrong and not catch it, even proofreading through the story on the tenth time. That and I believe a character by the name of Uzume to be replacing the perfectly good words I type with lamer words that make no sense in the sentence. =3=))

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 _ **Chapter 1 – The Birth of a Hunter**_

"Guys, where's the safe house?" A voice, male, called out with an accent, making it obvious that the group was still stuck in the lower south. "Ellis, I saw the sign a while ago, but I haven't seen the damn place yet." Nick glowered at Ellis from the front of the group. "You would have known that if you'd been paying attention." He seethed, obviously pissed off. "Nick, calm down." Rochelle said, Coach backing her up. "Just cause I'm slow don't mean I'm stupid." Ellis retorted, frowning. He slowed down and stayed in the back. That Nick, always pickin on him. He had thought he had heard a witch, so he was trying to pick out how far she was. He wasn't dumb, he knew that…

Ellis shook the thoughts off and trotted off after the group. "Hey, there's a hotel ahead of us!" He pointed out triumphantly. "But we are gonna have to go through it. The roads blocked ahead." Coach said, deflating Ellis' good mood. "I think we can get through, with some climbing. It won't be too hard." Rochelle offered, patting Ellis' back. He nodded and straightened up again, following as the group approached the run down motel. "We gotta find the steps to the second floor." Nick said, frowning. "Split up but don't go too far. Call out softly if you find the stairs." He said, turning and going one way. The other three nodded and headed in different directions.

Ellis passed by a pool, making a face at the leaves and water (he hoped) that filled it. "What I would give for a swim." He cooed to himself, before shaking his head and going back to his search. Most of the rooms he passed were empty or had one or two commons, so it wasn't that bad. Soon, he came upon a hallway and, sitting at the end, the stairs. "I found it!" He said to himself, doing a dance. He ran back out, and alerted the others loudly, earning himself a glare from the limping Nick. "Shut up!" He muttered to Ellis, pushing him out of the way. Ellis was about to say something when Rochelle passed by him. "He just got attacked by a hunter is all. Don't mind him sweetie." She reassured Ellis, smiling. Ellis nodded and looked at the stairs, watching Nick start up them before realizing what he was gonna say. "Stop! Wait! Don't go!" He said, stumbling his way over to them.

He had remembered earlier that he had heard a witch and had tried to find it, finding her by finding the stairs (or vice versus, he wasn't sure). Nick stopped, foot on the steps. "What now dumb bell?" He asked, scowling. "There's a witch up there! Can't ya hear her?" Ellis said softly, remembering to be quiet. The rest of the group shut up and, sure enough, they could hear her soft sobs. "Crap. She must be sittin right at the top of the stairs. Dammit!" Nick said, biting his lip slightly before he stopped his bad habit. "How are we gonna get around her?" He asked the others. Coach offered up just throwing a pipe bomb up there, but Nick ruled that out. Rochelle offered up a boomer bomb, but Nick and Coach didn't particularly want to try that. Ellis stayed quiet, Nick noticing and becoming suspicious. "Oi, dumbass, why are you so quiet?" Nick snapped at Ellis, startling the other man. "Oh. I think I have an idea." He said, grinning slightly. Nick facepalmed. "And what do you suppose we do, grow wings and fly?" Nick snapped. Today was not his day, and he felt that it was only going to get worse. He didn't need Ellis to be the one to ruin it.

Ellis grinned slightly. "Well, she ain't sittin on the railin…" He pointed out, much to Nick's horror. "No. No. No. I ain't doin it. No. No. Jus-No. Do not expect me to do that. I will be caught dead trying that." He said, shaking his head vigorously. Ellis looked confused as Coach and Rochelle sighed. "Just do it Nick. How else ya gonna get to the safe house?" Rochelle said, wiping sweat off of her forehead. She was nervous standing this close to a witch. If they didn't hurry, they would startle her. "…Fine." Nick said, scowling. "Let's get this over with." He said. "But I go last!" He added, much to Ellis' amusement. "Ok, suit yerself." Ellis said, grinning. Nick flipped Ellis' back off as he climbed the stairs. Getting to the second floor, he gulped, suddenly nervous. There sat the witch, sobbing into her hands. Good thing she wasn't wandering. He climbed onto the railing, which was just big enough for his hand, let alone his foot. Not to mention slippery.

After some stumbling, he made it across, and onto the other side of the witch. He gave the others the thumbs up and quietly tiptoed over to the nearest room, to wait for the others. Rochelle came next, squeaking slightly when she almost fell towards the witch. Coach somehow made it with out mishap, though the witch seemed to be getting even angrier. Nick cursed soundly as he strapped on his gun, so as to leave his hands empty. He could do it, he knew he could. He had taken gymnastics as a kid, as much as he hated to admit it. He climbed onto the railing slowly, and started his way up the sort of steep incline to the second story. 'I can do this,' was Nick's mantra for the entire walk. It seemed to be going well, until the last moment. As he was about to jump to safety, his already injured leg decided to come out from under him, pushing him forwards and onto the sobbing mass at the top of the stairs. "Shit!"

A thousand curse words, and a few clips of ammo later saw Nick limping even more, having to have Ellis, of all people, help him walk. "Dammit. I knew this would happen." He muttered, scowling. "Just knew it." Ellis shook his head and shut himself up, though he looked proud. "Stop looking so damn proud, dumbass." Nick muttered, taking his frustrations out on the man. "Its all your damn fault I'm so damn injured. Dammit." Ellis shook his head again, concentrating on moving through the motel.

"Nick, leave him alone. He didn't cause you to fall onto the witch. For all we know, you did it intentionally." Rochelle snapped at Nick, having had enough of his ranting. Nick's mouth flopped open and closed, before Ellis piped up.

"Ya better keep that closed. Dunno if ya want an infected fly getting in there." He said, almost cheerfully. Nick glowered at him, mouth snapping shut.

Coach just shook his head from the front of the group. The two men never seemed to get along with each other, even with Ellis trying his best to be friendly.

A few minutes later, they made there way down the steps and onto the street behind the barricade. "Finally!" Ellis said, doing a little dance. Nick continued to glower at him, staying quiet. He had pulled himself away from Ellis, and leaned against a car, still pissed of, before he realized something

"Wait, I think I hear a-" Was all Nick could get out before a horde attacked, sending a hunter Nick's way, and the rest the rest of the groups way. Try as he might, he couldn't shoot the jumping sucker, and cursed. "Somebody help me! Can't shoot the damn thing." He called out, still trying. He'd had to rely on his pistols, seeing as his main gun needed more strength than he had at the moment.

There was a click suddenly, startling Nick to the point of almost pissing his pants. "Fuck!" He said, resorting to just throwing the pistols at the hunter, who dodged simply. "I don't wanna die young!" He screamed, throwing his hands up as the hunter lunged at him. He shut his eyes tight, waiting for the searing pain of the hunter clawing through his intestines and skin and what not. But he didn't feel it. "The hell?" He muttered as his arms dropped so that he could see what the hell had happened. Suffice it to say, he was startled.

Ellis had seen how much trouble he was having and had sprinted his way, intercepting the hunter and uttering not a sound as the hunter latched onto him and started viciously tearing into him. In the blur before the hunter was shot by one of the other two, he could have sworn he saw the hunter bend down to do something at about neck level before sitting back up again. But nothing really registered in Nick's mind in that moment expect for the fact that Ellis had saved him at the cost of his own life. Rochelle finally caught up to the two and got rid of the hunter while Coach finished off the last of the hoard that had attacked them. "Shit. He looks bad. Do you think he's still breathing?" Rochelle asked, eyes wide. Ellis looked more than bad. He looked almost ugly. Disgusting. His throat had almost been ripped open, replaced instead with deep gashes and ribbons of skin and muscle. A trained medic or doctor might have caught the teeth marks, but his throat was so viciously torn open that none of the group could tell. Nick finally really registered the blood and had to scramble to the side of the ride, throwing up noisily. Coach went over to him and offered him a bottle of water as Rochelle searched hopelessly for a pulse. There wasn't one.

"Come on, you guys. We gotta get going." She said, voice hardening up slightly as she stood up. She turned away from the body of her dead friend, face cautiously blank as she joined Nick and Coach at the side of the road. "He would have wanted us to continue." The others nodded their agreement with the young woman and so, with barely a look backwards, the group walked off down the road, leaving the body. As much as they wanted to bury him, no one could really look at it, for fear of crying. They knew, Nick more so than the others, it could have been any one of them laying there.

Unbeknownst to them, once out of sight, the once thought to be dead body spasmed, crying out. Searing pain shot through the young man, almost shocking him back to life as the gashes healed over gruesomely. Well, an undead life. "AHHHH!" The pain continued, becoming all that the young undead man could think about, all he remembered, all he knew, before it disappeared quite suddenly. Spasming again, more from the memory of his rebirth, the young undead sat up shakily. 'W-Who am I?' He thought to himself, obviously confused, and scared and lost. He instinctively knew that something bad had happened and that he had caused someone loss. It was then that he realized something about him was...different. He looked at his hand, fascination taking precedence over his fear and confusion. Claws. He had claws. Looking at them, he knew that he wasn't human anymore. That he needed to do certain things, act a certain way. He wasn't consciously aware of his realization, instead it had become natural to him, as natural as breathing. Trying to think about it too hard hurt his head, so he learned to not do so pretty quickly. All he was sure of right then was a single name. "Nick." He knew it meant something to his old self, but he couldn't remember what. So he gave up trying to remember, figuring it would come to him later, and started referring to himself as that in his head. It felt weird but it would have to do.

"Nick" stood up and appraised his current situation. He eyed the hunter in front of himself, feeling sorry for his brethren. He didn't hesitate, though, to peel the hoodie off of the dead hunter grumbling in infected about how much trouble it was. Having too much trouble, he settled for ripping apart the dead body viciously and taking the hoodie as his own, though it was a little small on him. It would have to do for now as well, however, as he knew he had to move. A smell lingered on his nose, something wholly familiar and delicious at he same time, the feelings battling for dominance. He pushed them away as he scrambled forward, intent on following the delicious familiar things that had gone on ahead.

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((Post story authors note: Well there it is. Not completely rewritten but gone over and fixed. I'm thoroughly pleased with how it came out actually. I hope its as good to everyone else. :3 As I said before, don't be afraid to point out anything I missed grammar or spelling wise. I also want to take the time to say that this will in no way be a yaoi fanfic. Or yuri, as I intend to add the first group of survivors as well. Nick views Ellis as an annoying little brother and regrets always being mad at him. At least, thats how I view the group. I will say that I might have this be Ellis x Zoey though. I can see him being thoroughly enamored with her XD. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the redone first chapter~))


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